Normally, so-called compact discs are stored in individual envelopes or hinged cases which in turn are stored in horizontal or vertical stacks. Because the overall dimensions of an encased disc is appreciably greater than the disc itself, a stack of encased discs will consume an appreciably greater volume of space than would be necessary if discs could be successfully stored in a dense, side-by-side arrangement.
It is also noted that a compact recording disc is normally removed from its case and loaded into a disc drive by hand, and returned by hand to its storage case when ejected from the drive. Such handling may impair a disc if not done very carefully.
The prior art contains examples, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,814, of electrically powered, automatic mechanisms for retrieving a disc and feeding it to a disc drive mechanism, however, there remains a need for a simple, manually powered device for accomplishing this. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,630,732 and 3,603,460, disclose storage devices for a multiplicity of discs, however, these devices fail to provide, among other things, a hand-powered apparatus by which one of a multiplicity of stored discs can be retrieved from storage and fed to a drive mechanism, and then returned to storage when required, without touching the disc by hand.